Thursday, January 11, 2007

Thursday 01/11 A.M. Quickie:Bonds vs. Greenies, A. Peterson Going Pro

Barry Bonds tested positive for a form of greenies... six months ago. The NY Daily News broke the story, but you can expect it to get blowout coverage within sports media.

The interesting twist ("interesting" being relative) is that Bonds blames a teammate – though I'm not quite sure why Bonds would be taking a teammate's pills if he didn't know what was in them.

The more interesting twist is that the positive amphetamines test triggered six months of regular testing, which Bonds presumably passed without problem – which sort of undercuts the power of the story.

It's hard to get too worked up over MLB players taking amphetamines, considering that they were baseball's biggest, most widespread PED epidemic long before steroids ever made the scene.

Before they were banned last season, I guesstimated that 90 percent of players used some form of greenies over the last half-century. Notice how you rarely hear cootish old-timers ripping current players.

That's probably because the "Back in my day..." scolds are probably still too busy drinking 18 cups of coffee a day trying to recreate the daily high of their own amphetamine abuse.

Latest NFL Draft Declarations: And around the glory positions we go!

RB: Adrian Peterson! Poster guy for why college players should be allowed to declare for the NFL draft without age limitation. After his freshman year, he would have been a first-round pick. I still say he's the best RB on the board and a Top 10 pick.

QB: JaMarcus Russell! Rising buzz means he will likely battle Brady Quinn for position as first QB taken, though it'll be hard to overcome Quinn's "Notre Dame" mystique. Oh, wait: I mean "white" mystique. Nevertheless, Russell seems like a Top 10 lock.

WR: Dwayne Jarrett! You can keep Calvin Johnson, as amazing as he is. For my money, Jarrett was the best WR in college football – not just last year, but possibly of the last decade. Another guy who should be a Top 10 pick.

NFL Coaching Carousel: Coughlin returning to Giants. I don't think there's a piece of news that could depress Giants fans more. However, there is a bright side: One more year of getting his ass handed to him by power teams might convince Charlie Weis what the rest of us know: He'll never win the national title at Notre Dame, so he might as well go to the Giants. (More: Is Mike Martz the hottest coaching candidate? The Dolphins interviewed him, and the Raiders reportedly like him too.)

CBB Parity Watch: Georgia Tech stuns Duke. OK, this isn't about parity as much as it is about reaffirming that this Duke team was completely overrated to start the season. Now 0-2 in the ACC, Duke has been exposed. (But how about my boy, Jon Scheyer? Keep gunning, kid! This is the best-case scenario for me: Scheyer gets his, but Duke gets beat.)

But here's a good "Parity Watch" entry: Marquette, which had lost 2 straight, beat UConn, snapping the Huskies' 31-game home winning streak. Meanwhile, Butler lost to Illinois-Chicago, which should have you re-thinking the idea that Butler is this year's mid-major most likely to pull a George Mason.

NBA: The frenzy over Chris Webber is amusing. For $20 million? Keep him the hell away from my team. For, say, free? Come on over! The Knicks want him. KG wants to play with him (who doesn't KG want to play with?) And it looks like his hometown Pistons are going to get him.

(Meanwhile, the Sixers lost without him, which isn't much of a difference from the results they got with him. They lost to the Knicks, which is amusing for other reasons. The Sixers are doing it right: Hurtling closer and closer to the league's bottom -- and a lock for either of the draft prizes, Greg Oden or Kevin Durant.)

NBA Line of the Night: Dwight Howard's 30 points and 25 rebounds in a Magic win over the Warriors. Yeesh: Let's fit this monster for an All-Star jersey.

Tiki to NBC? NFL Hall-of-fame-whore Tiki Barber is rumored to be headed to NBC, where he'll undoubtedly be used to spice up "Football Night in America," but also undoubtedly be pushing for airtime on "Today." (I predict they stick him on the upcoming extra 4th hour of "Today.")

Tags to Pro Football HOF? He's one of the first-year finalists with a shot. Actually, I want to know why players have to wait six years to be eligible but former Commissioners don't even have to wait six months? Tags is a lock, of course. First-year finalist Bruce Matthews is, too. Those are the only two I think will make it, along with the "senior committee" nominee you've never heard of.

StubHub has ultimate sale: Online ticket re-seller StubHub, which built its business on the back of sports ticket sales (uh, don't call it "scalping"), was sold to eBay for $310 million. In 2007, I really do have to make me one of those ol' online start-ups.

I want to thank everyone who jumped on the Webbies bandwagon and nominated this blog for "Best Sports Blog." I really appreciated it, and – as I said before – what makes the blog particularly fun to do (and, hopefully, to read) is the participation by you.

Finally, here comes an interesting test: I'm headed down to Orlando today for my brother's wedding this weekend. I'm not bringing my laptop but I am bringing my brand spanking new Blackberry, and I'm going to attempt to update the blog using it.

What it means practically is that I'll probably have shorter posts, tomorrow and/or later today, but hopefully a few more posts during the day. I don't know how to actually EDIT the posts via Blackberry, only how to post them to the site. So any glaring errors – oh and there usually are quite a few – will be up there for all to see. Apologies in advance, but I'm looking forward to the experiment.

116 comments:

Way to go, Dan. Congratulations on calling Al Davis racist! Congratulations on doing what everyone else in the media does: Putting waaaaay too much emphasis on race. I think that without the media, race relations would be a lot better in this country.

NFL franchises are about making money and winning. If a black quarterback is the guy to make that happen, they'll draft a black quarterback. End of story.

Boomer Esiason was on Detroit radio the other day saying the Lions are completely idiots if they don't take Quinn if he is on the board at #2. I cringed. I just don't see it. I don't need another Joey Harrington.

The Raiders already have a "non-white" quarterback in Aaron Brooks. Two of their 3 quarterbacks are not white. The Lions have already taken a black quarterback in the first round before it was "cool".

Al Davis has always been about winning and that Commitment to Excellence silliness. He's going to take the player (or probably trade down for the 2 or 3 players) who give him the greatest chance to win now.

Wow. I know the Celtics' fell off the sports radar, even here in Boston, but no mention of them losing two players to knee ligament tears in the same game? I mean, that's got to be some sort of freakish record (esp. with Pierce out and Szcerbiak & West playing injured). Don't hand that #1 pick to the Sixers just yet...

I too will be leaving for Orlando in day, though only as a short four-day work conference stopover before heading to Vegas.

They should change the draft age for running backs. It's like being forced to only buy cars with 100,000 miles on them.

I really like Martz as a coach, because he'll attract attention and offensive free agents. What's wrong with an exciting flaky team? You'll sell a LOT of tickets. That's more than the Lions, Cardinals and Raiders can say.

To be fair to Quinn, if Notre Dame "just isn't that good" then his performance as a QB looks better. JaMarcus isn't a Vick or Vince type that can singlehandedly change games.

On the other hand, JaMarcus is basically Culpepper 2.0 (big guy surrounded by talent), so let's give him to the Raiders and RANDY MOSS, which is how we got Culpepper 1.0.

I love the fact that the M in his first name is capitalized. This could work. I really wanted the Raiders to wait for Booty, (too obvious?) but this will be fun, too.

I love Chris Leak, and I hope his stock goes up. Biggest game of his life, and he was throwing the ball away confidently when pressured. That automatically puts him ahead of 30 of the quarterbacks in the NFL.

I'd really laugh if Atlanta somehow got Leak and he had to switch downs AGAIN, this time with Coach-Killer Vick. I mean, that's too perfect, right? Vick is too shaky as a QB, so borrow Florida's "3rd down Back" style of quarterbacking, use Leak to run the offense (unlike Vick, I'm fairly certain he's been in a film room), then let Mr. Michael Over-hype steal all the touchdowns and glory on 2-yard gimme plays.

dan you forgot one of the biggest stories of the night ... the idiot formerly known as tony allen

in the celtics-pacers game from last night, allen gets fouled, and still drives to the basket for a showboaty dunk (play was dead so it was meaningless)...well if you havent seen it, he comes down awkwardly and probably injured his acl

Dan, you know you'd be ripping Greg Oden right now if he were drafted into the NBA this year (much like you ripped on Reggie Bush earlier this season). He was out for a month with injury and hasn't put up big numbers in college games so far.

Same with Adrian Peterson. If he suffered a bum ankle and broken collarbone playing in college, imagine the damage he would have gotten in the NFL against the big boys.

There are always exceptions to the rule, but the age restrictions are good for the most part.

corrnd - I have been asking for an explanation since he first said it, but he will not answer. Most likely because he doesn't have any sort of argument, just an extremely bias opinion and an extreme hatred for all things ND. It would require some sort of analytic research or complex reasoning to ome up with a legitimate response and Dan just doesn't seem to want to go there.

Dan, calling this duke team overrated is ridiculous. Nobody talked about them in the preseason. In fact, this may be the least hyped Duke Team in the modern K era. They lack experience and size. This is what Duke would call a rebuilding year.

However, don't forget about their big win against the Zags on a neutral site in December. The No. 1 team in the country lost to the zags in a neutral site game. I know how you love common opponents and all when rationalized why FLA should be no. 1.

Dan, I before you drool over Dwayne Jarret, let's run a list of names for you...Keyshawn Johnson, Keary Colbert, Curtis Conway, and ofcourse Mike Williams. These guys are products of a system. We don't want to see Jarret be the number drafted player like Keyshawn was. Then we will have to relive another bad book deal about how he wants the ball!! NO MORE TO's!!

Calvin Johnson is the real deal. He will be huge in the NFL and I still would not take him over a RB, LB,QB, or OL.

HoF: Where is the love for the Thomas brothers of Thurman and Derek?? Thurman perfected the pass catching running back that all running backs have to live up too. Derek was simply awesome to watch when he wanted to take over games. The only problem with Derek is he was a poor man's LT. Why aren't those guys locks as well?? Thoughts?

It makes very little sense for the "big name" coaches in college to go to the NFL. Saban probably would have been fired in a year or two in the NFL, whereas if he stayed at LSU he was set basically for life because of the national championship. Same thing with Pete Carol, Urban Meyer, Bob Stoops. The chances of them getting canned are slim. Not every team is like the Steelers and will stick with a coach who may struggle for a couple years.

Weis isn't in that category of the coaches above. But he's safe for at least a good 4-5 years. He doesn't have that security in the NFL. He won't have to win a national championship to keep the security, he'll just have to eventually win a few bowl games and a BCS game in the next 4-5 years then he's safe.

He has all the talent in the world to tempt you into thinking he's great. Then, just about when you are ready to think you are winning championships with him, he lowers the boom and commits two or three of the most hideous turnovers you will ever see.

Jason...dude...this isn't Shanoff's entire life! He is doing this because he enjoys it. I seriously doubt he gets paid for it. And he has said numerous times that he reads every comment. Didn't he say the comments are why he enjoys doing the blog? He can't update this site every hour on the hour. Imagine how much time it would take to answer every single comment?

That and isn't he technically a stay at home dad right now? That takes precedence over everything else...don't you think?

I believe Charlie Weis will be the next coach of the Giants unless of course Coughlin wins the super bowl next year and the job is not open. I think if Notre Dame gets blown out in there BCS Bowl Game(since we all know they will be overrated again and make the BCS) he will realize that Notre Dame partially due to it's academic standards will never compete for a National Title and why not go to the Pros.

If I was a GM maybe I'd rather take Jarrett at #10 than CJ at #3. That way I get an awesome receiver for less money.

If you give the two of them the same contracts then CJ is everyone's choice. However, if a GM traded down to get DJ and a pick instead of CJ, it wouldn't be the worst move in the world. For a team like the Raiders, or Bucs, it might be a great move.

Hey I'm an Irish fan, and I'll be the first to admit they are overrated and don't deserve 3/4 of the accolades they recieve. BTW w/ Coughlin coaching for 1 more year in NY, don't rule out Cowher as the G-Men's next coach. Not a lock, but deffinitely a possibility.

scott: I'm not asking him to update more. The reason I come here isn't to complain, but to read today's sports stories when I'm at work in a quick rundown. I'm a loyal Quickie reader and I usually have no problem with what DS has to say.

But it really irks me when he makes a ludicrous comment and then doesn't back it up. I know he reads the comments but he never follows up with what he has to say.

My feeling on blogs/internet posting is that if you're gonna post something that can be considered flamebait, you need to back it up or else you look ridiculous.

All that said, I don't want to come off as a guy who gives Shanoff shit on a daily basis. I really like about 90% of what he has to say. If he actually does come out with a book, I will be buying it. I guess I miss the interactivity of the chats and such...and the early days of the blog when he'd comment.

This blog should be, at best, the third most important thing in his life right now (family, job...if he's found employment post ESPN). But sometimes I want more than a ludicrous claim with no backup. That's all.

I have no problem commenting negatively on ND - just back up your statement with something...anything...just a coherent thought, especially when saying something as definitive as "he CANT and will NEVER win a NC at ND". There is no reasoning behind the statement, just obvious hatred for ND. And it isn't a one time statement, he continuously says it and continues to ignore the request for the reasoning behind his feelings (now expressed from multiple readers).

And thinking Weis is going to the Giants is just wishful thinking from everyone who hates ND and knows they would deteriate IF he left (which there is a 0.05% chance of him doing within the next four or five years, at a minimum).

Wow, Dan. You're really going to great lengths to insult Notre Dame - even saying the only reason anyone would take Brady Quinn is because he's 'white'.

The Instant History crowd saying Quinn should be surpassed by Russell just because Russell, unlike Quinn, had the luxury of playing against a fucking terrible secondary in his final college game, with all due respect, are out of their fucking minds.

The Becks thing is HUGE. First, how are they financing that deal...that's a lot of scratch. Second, we'll see if he has any effect on soccer here. He's a pretty popular guy, we'll see if people turn out to see him.

Dan, you should call your boy Michael Davies and see if he can write something on what this means for your blog. His blog from the World Cup was hilarious.

CMfost, as for ND's BCS worthiness next year, they won't qualify. With games at Michigan, at Penn State, at UCLA, at home against USC, and the usual Michigan State/Purdue fare, along with the new QB and all the other new faces (Darius Walker declared for the draft yesterday), Weis would have to pull something really good for ND to win more than 8 games next year. They probably won't hit the top 14 to qualify for a BCS game (which, just so everyone knows, is the exact same requirement every other non-BCS conference team has to meet to make a game).

Next year will definitely be a down year for ND - they have nine tough games coming out fo the gate before hitting their three cake games at the end of the season. They have only four returning offensive starters and (hopefully) a new defensive coordinator breaking in the D. Look for a sub-par 8-4 or 7-5 season followed by Weis putting HIS recruited players into full swing and a strong push for NC contention in the following two seasons.

How pissed is Calvin Johnson that he had Reggie Ball throwing passes to him this year - Reggie Ball might be the worst collegiate QB I have ever seen and it might cost this guy a whole bunch of money come draft day.

geoff-detroit: completely agree about Quinn. Talk about the next Ryan Leaf, I think Brady Quinn has that written all over him. Most ESPN analysts don't have him in the Top 10 anymore, and one even said today that he would likely drop to the 2nd round. I hope so.

As for Barry Bonds: please, someone just make him disappear. I don't care how anymore. What a disgraceful human being.

Mike - your sooo right. Next year ND should definitely get some quality teams like Northern Illinois or Bowling Green on the schedule (OSU), or maybe Western Carolina and UCF (Florida), or Temple, Kansas Sate, Middle Tennessee State, and Uconn (Louisville). Then we can compete with those powerhouse schedules of the real teams out there.

Won't read all comments..but best in decade?What about Larry Fitzgerald? Or any WR in the NFL under the age of 32 who is excelling? Wouldn't some of them be considered better than Jarrett?Hell, Detroit has drafted 3 of the last "best WRs in years".

NY Giants could be improved next year (Tom C. might get a reprieve). Tiki leaving will be a good thing (bad for the running game, but good for the team). Eli has never been allowed to take control of the team: Tiki ran all the team meetings, film breakdown, etc. There was a little blurb of a story late in the year that Tiki was going to relinquish some of those roles to Eli since he wasn't going to be there next year. If Eli steps up and the team gets behind him, he might have a breakout year.

WRs in the HOF: Guys like Reed and Irvin are hard to distinguish. None of them were ever the dominate receiver of their era - Rice screwed that up for everyone. However, in the mid-90s - other than Jerry - Irvin scared me most (not great numbers, but he was on a run-first team).

Joe Montana mentioned recently that he doesn't think Quinn will do well in the NFL because his intermediate throws are not as good as they need to be. I haven't seen much ND this year: any truth to that?

Dwayne Jarrett already holds the Pac-10 record for receiving TDs, with a year of eligibility left. His system and team certainly helped, but that's awfully impressive. Probably can't go too wrong with DJ or CJ.

Nice "prediction" about Tiki going to NBC Dan. Other than the fact that Marchand of the Post reported the same thing about the fourth hour of "Today" on Monday I would say you really are going out on a limb.

Lets not forget one of the top rookies in the NFL this season was 7th rounder Marques Colston from Hofstra, yes HOFSTRA a FCS (Football Championship Subdivision, I-AA) team.

I call out Dwayne Jarrett being called the best WR in college over the past decade.

David Ball from the University of New Hampshire exceeded Jarret on the field, and I dont wanna hear the comparisons about levels of football because that matters about as much as Adam Sandler does at the Oscars.

Ball set a new College record this year that was previously held by Jerry Rice, yes that Jerry Rice. He finished his career with 58 recieving touchdowns passing Rice's old record of 50.

Ball wont be a first round draft pick like Jarrett, but he will prove to be a huge bargain in the fourth round on his way to being the best rookie WR in 2007!

Patriots fans are drooling over the idea of beiung able to draft Notre Dame's Jeff Samadja(sp) late in the first round with one of there two first rounders, I say use those picks to build up your coverage teams on defense (Asante Samuel may sign elsewhere and Rodney Harrison has now become injury prone) as well as the LB which continues to age.

You may have to use a 3rd rounder on Ball if it appears he might go early in the 4th but its still a better bargain then wasting a 1st rounder on someone who will be inferior on the field to Ball.

I'll take Bowling Green vs. Army/Navy/St. Mary's/US Merchant Marine any day. The Ohio State AD decided about five years ago to schedule an in-state opponent once a year to boost revenue for other Ohio schools.

I'd love anyone in their right mind to even TRY and justify ND's weak schedule by comparing it to Ohio State or any SEC team. Two #2 teams in the regular season, or any SEC team on the road... yikes.

P.S. This message not from an Irish-hater. Just an observer.

P.P.S. By the way, my SEC comments reflect the notion that Mississippi State does not, in fact, exist.

And Dan, if you're going to bring up a race issue in pro/college football, it's not about an issue with the players in my mind, but rather the COACHES. 4 D-I minority coaches? it's pathetic.

Going back to the Beckham thing, I think this is huge for the MLS. While I have not read any articles yet, I assume his 5 yr/$250 mil contract will have part of it paid for by the league. How much better publicity can you get than that? It almost assures each team will have at least 1 sold out game a year.

Plus Beckham in LA? What is the over/under on months until he is in a major movie? 6?

See how I used real teams to make my argument Mike, not made up ones - I feel its more effective to use real facts when bashing a team instead of fake ones. Are you bashing the same Navy team that took BC to the wire in a bowl game a couple weeks ago? How'd bowling green do in their bowl?

ND's schedule does compare to most other "big schools" (in fact it is rated harder than OSU's) so stop with that garbage. They can't beat the top five-ten teams right now and were overrated most of the year, but give me a break with the schedule whining because we play a couple easy D-I teams (ND DOES NOT PLAY D-II schools unlike other teams in the BCS conferences, by the way), just like every other school out there - it just so happened that we played our two cake games in close promximity so it appeared that the schedule was weaker than it really is.

Seriously...college football is over. I am just now starting to get over my depression of Ohio State lackluster performance.

Oh well...such is life. The better team won.

Race is always a touchy issue with everything. Just ask Notre Dame. They hired an African-American and everyone praised them. Then when he was fired 3 years later, they were called racists. It's a lose-lose situation for schools.

Lastly...just a thought. Why does anyone from a big school go to the combine? If I was a big time player coming from a big time school, there is no way in hell I would go to the combine. I'd have the scouts come to me and I'd show them what I could do. When I was at Miami, Roethlisberger held his workouts there on campus. Not only did he show he could throw in shitty ass conditions (it was like 35 degrees that day), but he also got a couple of his teammates drafted (one's that were not invited to the combine). Just a thought.

Ok, so Bonds passed a test 6 months in a row, but who's piss was tested? Anybody see him actually whizz in the cup?

The old timers used to wash down their greenies with coffee (according to Bert Blyleven). I think he said players took asprin with coffee to get an extra buzz. That was back in 1985-ish and now I'm LMAO at that statement.

Also, Jarrett very closely emmulates another stud reciever from USC: Mike Williams. I think we all know how well that turned out.

Good luck with the Blackberry, but you should have tried the Blackjack or Q.

BTW - Duke will have an incoming player next year named Taylor King. Don't forget this name - the kid is a STUD!!! He signed a letter of intent with UCLA when he was in 8TH GRADE, but changed his mind and chose Duke just before his Junior year.

Stooncer not only does Duke have King, who just became the all time scorer in Orange County. They have commits from Nolan Smith out of Oak Hill and Kyle Singler. They are also in the mix for a couple of other top 10-15 players.

On one hand, I'd never want to see a player like CJ suffer in Detroit. Gotta look out for my GT people.

On the other hand, Detroit could (gasp) use a receiver like Calvin. He's the best player in the draft and anyone passing on him is a moron. Plus, the immediate riot would be the funniest thing to ever happen in the NFL. I'm almost rooting for it.

Apparently the breakdown of the $248 million/5 year contract is that the MLS will pay $400,000 per season or $2 million total over the five years. The rest will be picked up by Adidas, Gillette, etc...

Jordan Farmar is half jewish, half black. Don't think that counts - as the term "Jewish" in this sense usually refers to a dual religion/race thing. I could be wrong, of course. I don't understand these things anyway.

Another quick soccer note that is being dwarfed by the Beckham news: Clint Dempsey received his work permit in England, so he can start playing for Fulham in the EPL shortly. Fans of American soccer should hope he develops over there, so the National Team doesnt get embarassed in the WC again. The US needs creative players like Dempsey to compete against the best in the world.

I think most GM's look way beyond one game - at least good ones. All the hype surrounding draft status based on the bowl games seems media and fan driven and I don't think has a strong effect on a GM (unless they identify a fundamental flaw in the way the person plays - but that would be evident in all games they played). Draft status is based on a career of game tape and the combines coming up, not one night of televised football.

Anyone actually look at an OSU schedule before complaining about the strength? OSU does play the one in-state school per year, which is great for the State and the other schools. They also have one HUGE non-conference opponent scheduled every year. The deals are made about 10 years in advance, so it is hard to tell how they will work out, but:2007 -- at Washington2008 -- at USC2009 -- USC (and Army)2010 -- Miami and Marshall (at Army)2011 -- at Miami2012/13 -- Cal/ at Cincinnati2014/15 -- Virginia Tech2016/ 17 -- Oklahoma

They played at Texas early in the season this year. You cannot fault them that the B10 was a little bit down this year after the top 5, they tried to schedule something hard and exciting for their players and fans.

NDYanksfan your comments about GMs is spoken like a true believer in Brady Quinn. You think GMs need to look at his entire career of great games against Army, Navy, Air Force, Purdue and Mich. St. and not look at the dumps he took against Michigan, USC and LSU.

NDYanksfan your comments about GMs is spoken like a true believer in Brady Quinn. You think GMs need to look at his entire career of great games against Army, Navy, Air Force, Purdue and Mich. St. and not look at the dumps he took against Michigan, USC and LSU.

Really -- GMs don't even put a lot of stock in actual on-field performance. GMs really look at upside potential in terms of speed, strength, size, intelligence, etc. The intangibles help move a guy a few spots in the draft, but not significantly. Pro GMs want a guy who has the physical skills to compete. Beyond that, they largely think they can coach the rest.

What? Are these all the same people who said Troy Smith was God's gift to earth all season and who have since moved on to Russell because of his one time performance (LSU fans were calling for the guys head earlier in the season)? Quinn has been the number 1 QB in the nation on a team of over achievers for two years...his numbers are sick, and without him ND wins maybe two or three games this season. Even then, I don't know if he is going to be good in the NFL (no one does), but as an educated guess, I would say with the proper coaching he could be a solid starter based on the fact that he has a strong arm, is mobile, is accurate, is big, and has reacted well to new coaching (i.e. he is very coachable). That doesn't take into account intangibles such as poise (sacked a lot), has played on the big stage (four years of Nationally televised games), is a winner (has a ND record for wins), and is smart in the pocket (doesn't throw many INTs/knows when to throw the ball away). That said, I have no idea how good he really will be, but I know I am not going to pass judgement based on the fact that his defense can't stop a high powered offense and he three some INTs against some of the best defenses in the country (although several bounced off receivers hands/faces - see Mich and LSU).

They have about four RB's right now, James Aldrich, Prince, and Travis Thomas currently on the team some incoming four or five star recruits.

His leaving is based on the fact that he hit a ceiling and ND offense is going to be in a transition period with a new QB, new WR and half a new OL. Plus he will be sharing carriers with the up and coming underclassmen. He has no room for improvement and he is coming off a solid year of 1300 yds and like a 4 or 5 yd/carry average.

I still want to see why people have rated Quinn the #1 QB in the nation the last 2 years. I am just not impressed with the guy. He is big but I think he has average arm strength. The INT that was overturned in the Sugar Bowl is a good example. He threw it about 40 yards and he put just about everything he had into it.

The only passes he seems to make are 10-15 yards and in the NFL he will have to put those into small windows because of the speed on defense. I just don't think he has the arm strength to fit a ball in there.

340 yards of offense, 270 passing and 70 rushing, with 3 TDs and no turnovers, does not a dump make. Quinn played very well against USC. Rhema McKnight (who dropped about 5 passes, including a key 4th and short pass that changed the game) and his offensive line, not so much. He didn't play well against UM, but he had less time to throw the pigskin in that game than any QB in any game I can remember watching save Troy in the NC game. Can we please, please, PLEASE debunk this stupid myth that Brady and Brady alone sucks in big games?

As for the academy thing, ND plays Navy and AF next year. Navy won 9 games and AF 4. AF nearly beat Tennessee in Neyland. Those two teams would beat the ever living shit out of anyone in Michigan's non-con save ND and most teams on the SEC and Big 12's non-con schedules.

22/45 and if you take away the drops he is still 22/40. I know every ND fan wants Quinn to be special and do something to show that he deserves all of this praise. But I am sorry to tell you the guy is the next Rick Mirer.

Big difference between VY and Brady though. VY is completing 51% in the NFL. Check out VY's completion % when he was at Texas. He even did it against good teams something Brady has not been able to do.

Jeff (Fairfax, Va.): Sports Guy, I heard you are doing some college basketball commentating for ESPNU. Any chance you parlay this into something we all want to see … you doing NBA stuff?

Bill Simmons: I'm just doing two games -- 1/15 and 1/22 -- because I wanted to write a column about what it's like to announce a game. Don't get your hopes up -- there's a 100-percent chance I'm going to be bad at this. As long as I don't completely kill the game, I'll be happy.

ND at home in the biggest game for the program since the '93 FSU game and they still lost. Reggie Bush push or not. VY in the Rose Bowl which is basically a home game for USC and the guy carries the Horns to the National Championship.

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.